The federal Liberal government has rejected the recommendation of the
House of Commons agriculture committee that the Pest Management
Regulatory Agency be subjected to the scrutiny of an independent
ombudsperson charged with listening to industry complaints and
reporting to the government.
Instead, an adviser mainly dealing with minor-use pesticide issues will
be appointed as part of the PMRA bureaucracy, health minister Anne
McLellan said in a report tabled in the Commons in October.
“The government agrees in principle with the committee’s position that
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there is a need for a body charged with resolving the problems farmers
encounter in gaining access to needed pesticides,” the health minister
said in response to a May report from the agriculture committee.
But while MPs recommended the complaints commissioner be independent of
the agency, McLellan said the government disagrees.
She said the adviser to be appointed under the legislation will report
to the executive director of the PMRA “rather than to ministers as
recommended by the committee.”
McLellan said the reporting requirements of the Canadian position
should mirror rules in the United States, where the minor crop adviser
reports to the director of the office of pesticide programs.
“Since the role of the occupant is to influence the management and
operations of the PMRA, the government felt it essential that there be
direct and immediate access to senior management,” said the minister’s
report to Parliament.
“This is particularly the case since many of the issues will relate to
details of the day-to-day operations of the pesticide regulatory
system.”
MPs on the agriculture committee in the last session of Parliament were
calling for much more.
They suggested appointment of a minor-use issues adviser, reporting to
health and agriculture ministers, who would deal with farmer complaints
about lack of access to minor crop pesticides and focus on
standardization of rules and data with the U.S.
More broadly, the committee unanimously recommended “that an
ombudsperson independent of the PMRA and reporting directly to the
minister of health be appointed to facilitate discussions on farmers’
various needs regarding pest control.”
McLellan said two distinct offices are not necessary and since the real
problem is minor-use pesticide issues, that should be the focus.
And while the office would be inside the agency under scrutiny, farmers
still could make concerns known to the responsible minister.
